What follows are some of the ad lib comments made at the MTN 20th Anniversary celebration on April 11th. "What a thrill to be here tonight to celebrate all of the wonderful contributions that MTN has made to our city. When I think about MTN, I think about what's different between MTN and commercial television. It's everything that commercial television is not. It's about community. It's about diversity. It's about celebrating the cultural fabric of this great city. And it gets stronger and stronger every year." City Council President Paul Ostrow "It's wonderful to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the founding of MTN and they've done a marvelous job." Former Minneapolis Mayor Don Fraser "This is such an exciting night. And I'm looking out there and I'm seeing faces that I haven't seen for a long long time." Former MTN Board Member Phyllis Thornley "It's a great pleasure to see the results of Phyllis' work and so many other people's hard work. It's so gratifying to be here 20 years later and say 'Thank you' for all that hard work. It's really paid off." Former MTN director Will Loew-Blosser "I have to tell you that Mayor Don Fraser read my lines so I get a wonderful chance to ad lib. I look at all your faces out there and so many of you I have known for 20 years and so many of you are new. That's the testament to public [access] television." MTN Producer and one of the founders of MTN, Judy Corrao "With this group, and all of the experience you've had on television, I'll let you do the talking, and continue to do the talking. That's what it's about." Time Warner Cable Director of Public Affairs and Programming Lance Leupold "I'm a producer with Twin Cities Public Television and we've been having some technical difficulties as we convert to digital broadcasting and it took me back to the Lehman Center and some of my early editing and reminiscing about my early MTN days as a producer." Former MTN Board Member Dan Bergin It's been an honor and a pleasure to work with MTN over the years and see the programming grow and see the outreach to the community and the people coming to MTN and sharing your work with the community." Cable Franchise Officer Edie French "Just like all of us, MTN just gets better and better with years. It's hard to believe that 20 years have gone by." Former MTN Director Carol Banister "This is just one dynamic birthday for each and every one of us who is involved with MTN. Now MTN is here to serve the community, and we would like to believe that we are the community. People who watch us are the community. And if you look at the word 'community,' you see 'unity' within that word. If you look at that word 'unity,' you see 'you' and 'it,' and you can be in it every day if you turn on MTN." MTN Producer Al B. Ware "We brought this center, [Saint Anthony Main], back. Everybody really knows that even if they don't say it." Former MTN Director Anthony Riddle "…Whether you're left, right, or center, the first amendment is important to you. And today it's under attack. And traditionally the first amendment has only made a difference to people who owned TV stations and owned printing presses. MTN gives everybody the opportunity to tell their own stories, everyone to be a producer." Former MTN Board Chair Sheldon Mains "I want to thank everyone at MTN for putting up with the crap that we used to pull. Jim Derks may remember a specific episode where we fired a gun off with blanks in the studio. So, sorry about that, twenty years later." Richard Kronfeld, also known as "Dr. Sphincter" "We had a very unique opportunity last summer to put together a fifteen week program for local Tibetan youth. The cultural sensitivity and the willingness to provide young people the opportunity to learn a technical skill, learn life skills like teamwork and communication along with finding their own voice I thought was absolutely phenomenal. In today's troubled social and political times having a vehicle like MTN is very important for freedom of speech." MTN Producer Pam Meier "All of us have put our heart, soul, sweat, blood, tears, laughter, joy, hopes and dreams to make the Minneapolis Telecommunications Network the best network here in the state of Minnesota." Comedian Fancy Ray McCloney "Just watching the diversity, the vibrancy that's here tonight is really something to see." Council Member Paul Zerby "Without MTN, I don't know where free speech would be in Minneapolis." MTN Producer Marie Alena Castle "I've been a member of MTN for 12 years and it's just been excellent. Each of us is different in our own way, but it's important that we get a chance to show what's important to us and to be able to express it so things don't come out just one-sided." MTN Producer Kevin Jenkins "MTN is a family, because there is no way in the world you could have told me five years ago that I could be standing up here or even behind a camera… I'm glad I have a family at MTN." MTN Producer Leon Mitchell "God bless you, MTN. We love you." MTN Producer Patrice Winston